The following is how to utilize a duck so you have a breast dinner, a confit dinner, a fat yield, and a bone stock. Note that the breasts of ducks are to be cooked like a steak. They are not cooked all the way like a chicken.

This recipe is mainly from an episode of a podcast called The Survival Podcast. Here is the link to the specific episode. We also clipped out the specific audio and put it to pictures we took while cooking a duck. Here is the link to the YouTube video.

Duclair Duck

BREASTS

Preheat oven to 400 deg F

Cut breasts out with the skin on

Score skin on breasts with 3 little cuts. ½ to 2/3 the width. Not all the way. Just to help the fat render

Put a little bit of duck fat or high temp oil (like peanut oil) in a cast iron or carbon steel pan

Get the pan warm, not very hot

Put duck breasts skin side down. Cook until it starts to render fat out and the skin begins to crisp a little

Flip over to the nonskin side and cook for about 2 min at the most at a medium temp.

Take skillet and put into the oven for 4 to 6 minutes. If going by temp, cook to 135-140 deg F

Take skillet out and set aside and leave alone for a few minutes

Take the breasts out and set onto a cutting board for about 5 or more minutes and let the internal temp come down like with a steak

Slice it on the bias. Salt and pepper

Save the drippings from the pan for the confit

CONFIT

Cut the legs and thighs off at the ball, where the thigh meets the body

Optional: cut wings off. Wing tips aren’t worth comfit-ing, but rest could. Or leave with rest of the body

Rub legs with seasoning of choice. One example: salt, pepper, orange peel, thyme, sage, rosemary

Put into fridge overnight

Preheat oven to 225 deg F

Using a small crock or high sided oven safe dish (legs will need to be completely covered in fat), place legs into the crock. Cover in a fat. Duck fat is best, but can use peanut oil (consider allergies though), lard, olive oil or other fat of choice. Butter can be used, but tends to make it saltier. Duck fat can be strained, cooled, and reused over and over

Place crock/dish into oven for 2-3 hours, until the meat is tender and pulls easily from the bone.

Let it cool a little, but not so far that the fat starts to jell

Put the legs onto a cutting board and let cool a little more Put a little bit of fat into a hot pan and crisp the skin

GETTING FAT FROM DUCK

Remove all the skin and fat from the rest of the duck

Put about an inch of water in a pot and put the skin and fat in the water

On a really slow simmer, go until all the water is boiled away. The fat will be rendered away from the skin

Simmer the fat until the fat looks like butter and skin crisp and look like cracklins

Save fat for use in future comfits. Skin cracklins can be just eaten or used on a salad

REST OF BIRD (BODY AND WINGS)

Heat oven to 400 deg F

Put the body in the oven and roast for about 20 min, just until they are brown

Make a bone stock using that

Categories: DucksRecipes